Which statement about the reasonable person standard is correct?

• A. Compliance with statutory requirements is dispositive proof of reasonable care.
• B. The standard is identical to a professional standard in all contexts.
• C. A person with a physical disability must act as a reasonable person with the disability would act.
• D. The standard does not apply to business entities.

Answer: (C)

The core idea is that the reasonable person standard measures conduct by what a prudent person would do under the circumstances. It isn’t a one-size-fits-all rule; it adapts to the individual’s actual abilities. When someone has a physical disability, they are judged against a hypothetical reasonable person with the same disability. In other words, the standard takes into account the disability and asks what a reasonable person who shares that disability would do in the same situation. That makes the rule fair by aligning expected conduct with real-world capabilities.

Statutory compliance is only evidence of reasonable care, not dispositive proof. The standard isn’t always identical to a professional standard in every context; professional standards come into play mainly in professional malpractice scenarios, not as a universal substitute. And business entities aren’t exempt; they’re evaluated for negligence through the actions of their employees and agents under the same reasonable-person framework.